Andy’s Arrival: Murray Beats Wawrinka, Earns First Win Of Comeback

If former World No. 1 Andy Murray is rusty after missing 11 months due to a hip injury, he is not showing it. One week after pushing talented Aussie Nick Kyrgios to a final-set tie-break in his return match at the Fever-Tree Championships, the Scot made a statement at the Nature Valley International.

Murray defeated former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka 6-1, 6-3 on Monday to set a second-round matchup against British No. 1 Kyle Edmund.

“Very happy to get the win. I thought the first set I played well, second set was a little bit patchy at times, a bit nervous towards the end,” Murray said. “Obviously when you’ve not played for the best part of a year, closing out the match against someone like Stan, who I’ve had lots of great matches with — tough, tough guy to play against — was tough. But delighted to get the win.”

The 31-year-old’s 2017 season came to an end after losing in the Wimbledon quarter-finals. And after deciding against a comeback at the start of the year in Australia, Murray underwent hip surgery. The Scot got off to a quick return on the grass, despite the tough draw against a former Top 5 foe like Wawrinka, breaking the Swiss star four times to triumph. 

“I looked at someone like a [Juan Martin] del Potro, who has come back from multiple injuries and some of the draws you get are really difficult,” Murray said. “You have to just try to accept it, try and deal with it as best as you can and hopefully start winning some of those matches soon. I didn’t know if that was going to come today, but I was okay with it. It’s good to get a competitive match against a top player. “

The World No. 156’s movement looked sharp in his second match back. Especially in the first set, Murray did a good job retrieving many aggressive shots by Wawrinka deep in the court, keeping the Swiss from hammering away at short balls and putting pressure on him to go for more, leading to unforced errors.

But when Wawrinka began to find more of a rhythm in the second set, Murray had no issues being more aggressive. While up a break at 4-3, Murray saved the only four break points he faced in the match, all by taking initiative in the rallies. 

Wawrinka is also on the comeback trail, having missed the end of last season after Wimbledon due to a knee injury. This was the 16-time tour-level champion’s ninth tournament of the season.

Murray has won both of his previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against Edmund. But those matches were two years ago. The 23-year-old has since climbed into the Top 20 of the ATP Rankings. Nevertheless, he’s impressed with what he has seen from Murray.

“I think [at] Queen’s he played really pretty well for his first match, for sure,” Edmund said on Monday. “He’s looking good, like, pretty normal to me.”

Murray has been impressed with his compatriot, too.

“Kyle’s been fantastic. Not just this year, but the end of last year as well. He’s a great player, he’s improving all the time,” Murray said. “I’m expecting a tough one. I’ll try and play my best.”

In other action in the bottom half of the draw, American Jared Donaldson edged #NextGenATP countryman Taylor Fritz 6-7(8), 6-3, 7-6(3) to set a meeting with third seed Denis Shapovalov.

The 21-year-old landed 11 aces and won 81 per cent of first-serve points to book his place in the second round. Donaldson is bidding to reach his second tour-level quarter final this season after a semi-final run at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in February.

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Did You Know?
Andy Murray is making just his second appearance at the Nature Valley International. The former World No. 1 reached the quarter-finals on his debut in 2006 at Nottingham, losing in three sets to Italy’s Andreas Seppi.